More Articles

By Kevin MurphyREUTERS • Saturday April 5, 2014 10:53 AM

DETROIT — Detroit’s mayor and city council president called for calm yesterday and condemned the
severe beating that bystanders gave to a motorist who stopped to help a 10-year-old boy he had
struck with his vehicle.

Steven Utash, 54, was surrounded by a group and beaten on Wednesday afternoon. He remained in
critical condition yesterday in a Detroit hospital, police said. The child he hit, David Harris,
was released from a hospital on Thursday, they said.

“This senseless vigilante-style attack is not the essence of who we are as Detroiters and will
not be tolerated,” Mayor Mike Duggan and council President Brenda Jones said in a statement.

Police said Utash struck Harris as the boy stepped into traffic near a convenience store. Utash
did the right thing by stopping to aid him, the statement said.

“We are asking all metro Detroiters to demonstrate our true character by exercising calm and
patience during this emotionally charged time,” Duggan and Jones said in the statement.

No charges will be filed against Utash, Detroit police spokeswoman Jennifer Moreno said.

Police, as well as Duggan and Jones, asked the public for help in identifying and locating
anyone who took part in the beating.

Supporters of Utash, who is from the Detroit suburb of Roseville, have created a Facebook page
to raise money for his hospital bills. The page says Utash has no insurance, and his family needs
help to pay his medical bills.